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Crossed Hooves Transportation Services
A distributor of goods, Crossed Hooves have weathered all the Badlands have thrown at it in forty years and grew in the face of it. Despite Competition from the Merchant Guild, They continue to profit by sticking to their staples, mainly medicine and blankets. Founding Crossed Hooves Transportation Services was originally a fancy sounding side business for bounty-hunter Elrey Jensen, who would carry letters and parcels to other towns while looking for his marks. He would switch to delivery full-time after a house he was going to search exploded, apparently intended to catch him in it. He had been trying to find a woman to give her a letter, and was unharmed, but intimidated. He would find several other packages and items and take them down the road, delivering them on behalf of "Crossed Hooves". He would purchase a wagon in 2243, starting the official run of Crossed Hooves Transportation Services. He would diversify from letters and packages almost immediately, delivering goats and bullets by late 2244. By then he had hired on three other hands to help him, and had earned the trust of many settlers in the region. Continuing to grow, he would base the company in Timber Lake, having developed several connections there. The company would grow to 50 personnel by the end of the decade, running some three routes west of the Missouri. Having already built a small fortune, Jensen decided to diversify his goods, and approached John Hoolihan in 2254. He offered the chemist a contract, promising a more-than-fair price in exchange for exclusive distribution rights for his medicine. With the agreement of Hoolihan, the Crossed Hooves became the largest seller of quality medicine in the region. They would also be targeted more frequently by raiders, losing an entire caravan in 2257. Despite this tragedy, Jensen and his company were determined to continue, and began to arm their guards more heavily. The raiders would settle down in the mid-2260s, and the Crossed Hooves would start to rebuild their ranks. Weakened by a decade of ambushes, they were down to twenty-six employees, counting office workers. To make matters worse, the Mobridge Merchants Guild had used the river to get ahead of the Crossed Hooves, locking them out of markets further afield. They would consolidate their most popular goods and stick to shorter routes, taking a loss in profits for the short term. This would provide them with relatively safer routes however, and let them recruit another dozen employees by 2267. Fortunately for them, a Smallpox epidemic had been going around The Badlands for the past few years, allowing them to sell at a high price. Their gouging would earn them the ire of the poor, but refilled their coffers and allowed them to return to the longer routes. The aged Elrey would welcome Custer's American Army into Timber Lake in the 2270s, seeing them as an open path to the west, somewhere he dearly wanted to sell to. Since then the company has focused on the western side of the Missouri, and have become the primary employer of Timber Lake. Activities & Interests The Crossed Hooves busy themselves into three main ways; they are either moving and selling goods; organizing further shipments; or negotiating contracts with potential suppliers. They make it a point to stay out of politics, having seen several governments toppled during their time on the routes. Despite their dislike of the Mobridge Merchants Guild, they have rescued two raft crews after they were swept down the river, though the bounty for their rescue might have influenced them. Category:Caravan Companies Category:Badlands Category:Groups